Is momentum growing to merge school districts, share services?

Grand Rapids Public Schools leaders last week issued a “call to action” to students, parents, staff and supporters asking them to contact lawmakers and ask them to oppose Gov. Rick Snyder's proposed budget cuts.

“Our state lawmakers need to hear from students, parents, and staff starting today and not stopping until the Legislature corrects these inequities and re-prioritizes public education,” district spokesman John Helmholdt wrote in an e-mail sent on Thursday. “Investing in jobs starts with investing in education and the talent pool that is going to drive the economy of the future.”

But are districts themselves ignoring a growing call to action to keep money in classrooms by consolidating small districts and sharing services with others in their counties?

That study indicated state taxpayers could save $612 million a year after three years — all without closing a school – by consolidating districts around county lines. A shared services model that puts all public school transportation, food service and operations and maintenance at the county level would save $328 million, the researchers determined.

“Once upon a time, Michigan had more than 7,000 school districts -- a number that was diminished by a wave of consolidations after World War II and has stayed steady at about 550 since then,” wrote the Free Press' editorial board.

“Still, that's the fifth-largest number of school districts in the nation. And the cost of maintaining all those jurisdictions – the redundant superintendents and other administrators, the separate busing systems and food contracts, the inefficiencies of scale – has loomed as an unaffordable luxury for years.”

The paper notes that more than half of the state's districts have fewer than 2,000 students – which means they are smaller than East Kentwood or Rockford high schools.

Florida and Maryland have school districts along county lines, and Hawaii has a statewide district. The Free Press notes that “Illinois has offered incentives for consolidating, including $4,000 per certified staff member to districts that reorganize. Indiana, Kansas, New York, Maine, Ohio and South Dakota also have taken steps toward consolidation.”

The Free Press recommends resurrecting a bill introduced last year by former state Rep. Fred Miller, D-Mt. Clemens, that would have created a commission – similar to the one used to close military bases – to review district boundaries and suggest which districts should merge or be broken into smaller units.

“It should also recommend whether the state superintendent of education should have the authority to consolidate school districts, which are creations of the state.”
Gov. Synder is expected to announce his plans to make governments more efficient this month, and his education plan in April.

The Grand Rapids Public Schools' “call to action” makes it seem that districts would rather lobby students, parents, staff and supporters pressure lawmakers to preserve the status quo.

But the calls for schools to be more efficient started last year when Gov. Granholm called for $50 million in incentives for districts to come up with consolidation and shared services plans on their own. The plan died in part because of district lobbying.